


snowflake

by gilbertcest



Series: a drabble a day challenge // the infernal devices [4]
Category: Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: F/M, this is so platonic it hurts me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-12 22:12:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2126412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gilbertcest/pseuds/gilbertcest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Over the years, Will had grown used to associating snowflakes and the stairs leading up to the Institute doors with Jessamine Lovelace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	snowflake

Over the years, Will had grown used to associating snowflakes and the stairs leading up to the Institute doors with Jessamine Lovelace.

Every year on Christmas, when everyone else was busy giving and receiving their presents, Will would come down here to meet her.

Of course after few years, Jessie had been able to enter the Institute to some extent, but there was a certain draw to the place where she had first talked to him after her death.

Will brushed away the thin layer of snow and sat down on the steps, the tiny dolls in his palms. It was Christmas after all.

"Hello, William."

In death Jessamine's voice had changed. She did not sound bitter or as if the weight of the world rested on her shoulders.

"Jessie." Will said and smiled at her. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Will." She replied and she slid down to rest beside him. She was not fully there, still transparent, but in early years it had been much harder for her to be in this state. Still she was in her white dress, her hair cut short and her chest covered in blood. Still she was beautiful despite it all. And still it pained Will to watch the soft snowflakes fall through her, as if she were not here at all.

"You look good." Will said, trying to sound lighthearted.

"You do not." She replied quickly. "Look at your and your gray hair!"

"Jessamine," Will said warningly, but good-naturedly. "If you keep teasing me, I will not give you your present."

"Don't be cruel, William." Jessie said, unmistakably sharp.

"I was only teasing." He reassured her. "As were you."

"True, I was. But that is not a matter to be dealt with jokingly. You know how much it means to me and I still cannot go that far up." She sighed. "Why didn't Charlotte give me Jem's old room."

Will's breath hitched and Jessamine looked at him with pity. "I am sorry, Will. In death, life seems so fleeting, I sometimes forget how much you still feel."

"Do you miss it?" Will asked. "Living?"

"Yes, sometimes." Jessie said, her voice thoughtful. "But what is done is done. It's been years, and I am still home."

"Yes, you are." He stretched out his hand, his palm upturned and opened it. Inside lay Jessamine's dolls.

Jessamine gasped, her eyes watering instantly. "I will never have a family, Will, but you have one." She looked at him. "The only thing I'll ever have is this. A memory."

She closed her eyes, and as the seconds passed, her features grew more pronounced. And when she opened her eyes, she looked more like a human, but still ghostly.

"Take them, Jessie." Will said softly. And as Jessamine touched the tiniest of the dolls and tears rolled down her face, Will remembered the first time she had been able to touch the dolls.

The moment passed and the dolls dropped back into his open palm. "And Jessie, you might not have children of your own, but you are my children's aunt Jessamine."

"Indeed, I am." She said, sounding proud. "And fine children you have. Much more behaved than you ever were."

"Will you take care of them, when I am no longer here? My children and grandchildren and.. Tessa."

"Always." Jessamine whispered and then Will was alone, sitting on the steps and watching the snowflakes fall.


End file.
